1,988 research outputs found
Creation of double-well potentials in a surface-electrode trap towards a nanofriction model emulator
We demonstrate a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap that is applicable as a nanofriction emulator and studies of many-body dynamics of interacting systems. The trap enables both single-well and double-well trapping potentials in the radial direction, where the distance between the two potential wells can be adjusted by the applied RF voltage. In the double-well configuration, parallel ion strings can be formed, which is a suitable system for the emulation of the Frenkel-Kontorova (FK) model. We derive the condition under which the trap functions as an FK model emulator. The trap is designed so that the Coulomb interaction between two ion strings becomes significant. We report on the microfabrication process for such downsized trap electrodes and experimental results of single-well and double-well operation with calcium ions. With the trap demonstrated in this work we can create atomically accessible, self-assembled Coulomb systems with a wide tuning range of the corrugation parameter in the FK model. This makes it a promising system for quantum simulations, but also for the study of nanofriction in one and higher dimensional systems
A calcium ion in a cavity as a controlled single-photon source
We present a single calcium ion, coupled to a high-finesse cavity, as an almost ideal system for the controlled generation of single photons. Photons from a pump beam are Raman-scattered by the ion into the cavity mode, which subsequently emits the photon into a well-defined output channel. In contrast with comparable atomic systems, the ion is localized at a fixed position in the cavity mode for indefinite times, enabling truly continuous operation of the device. We have performed numeric calculations to assess the performance of the system and present the first experimental indication of single-photon emission in our set-up
LHC sensitivity to lepton flavour violating Z boson decays
We estimate that the LHC could set bounds BR(Z -> mu^\pm e^\mp) < 4.1 *
10^{-7} and BR(Z -> tau^\pm mu^\mp)< 3.5 * 10^{-6} (at 95% C.L.) with 20
inverse fb of data at 8 TeV. A similar sensitivity can be anticipated for Z ->
tau^\pm e^\mp, because we consider leptonic tau decays such that Z -> tau^+
mu^- gives e^+ \mu^- +$ invisibles. These limits can be compared to the LEP1
bounds of order 10^{-5} to 10^{-6}. Such collider searches are sensitive to a
flavour-changing effective Z coupling which is energy dependent, so are
complementary to bounds obtained from tau to 3mu and mu to 3e.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, version for publicatio
TeV-scale seesaw from a multi-Higgs model
We suggest new simple model of generating tiny neutrino masses through a
TeV-scale seesaw mechanism without requiring tiny Yukawa couplings. This model
is a simple extension of the standard model by introducing extra one Higgs
singlet, and one Higgs doublet with a tiny vacuum expectation value.
Experimental constraints, electroweak precision data and no large flavor
changing neutral currents, are satisfied since the extra doublet only has a
Yukawa interaction with lepton doublets and right-handed neutrinos, and their
masses are heavy of order a TeV-scale. Since active light neutrinos are
Majorana particles, this model predicts a neutrinoless double beta decay.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure
Differential Contribution of Rod and Cone Circadian Clocks in Driving Retinal Melatonin Rhythms in Xenopus
Background: Although an endogenous circadian clock located in the retinal photoreceptor layer governs various physiological events including melatonin rhythms in Xenopus laevis, it remains unknown which of the photoreceptors, rod and/or cone, is responsible for the circadian regulation of melatonin release. Methodology/Principal Findings: We selectively disrupted circadian clock function in either the rod or cone photoreceptor cells by generating transgenic Xenopus tadpoles expressing a dominant-negative CLOCK (XCLDQ) under the control of a rod or cone-specific promoter. Eyecup culture and continuous melatonin measurement revealed that circadian rhythms of melatonin release were abolished in a majority of the rod-specific XCLDQ transgenic tadpoles, although the percentage of arrhythmia was lower than that of transgenic tadpole eyes expressing XCLDQ in both rods and cones. In contrast, whereas a higher percentage of arrhythmia was observed in the eyes of the cone-specific XCLDQ transgenic tadpoles compare to wildtype counterparts, the rate was significantly lower than in rod-specific transgenics. The levels of the transgene expression were comparable between these two different types of transgenics. In addition, the average overall melatonin levels were not changed in the arrhythmic eyes, suggesting that CLOCK does not affect absolute levels of melatonin, only its temporal expression pattern. Conclusions/Significance: These results suggest that although the Xenopus retina is made up of approximately equa
Enhancing lepton flavour violation in the supersymmetric inverse seesaw beyond the dipole contribution
In minimal supersymmetric models the -penguin usually provides
sub-dominant contributions to charged lepton flavour violating observables. In
this study, we consider the supersymmetric inverse seesaw in which the
non-minimal particle content allows for dominant contributions of the
-penguin to several lepton flavour violating observables. In particular, and
due to the low-scale (TeV) seesaw, the penguin contribution to, for instance,
\Br(\mu \to 3e) and conversion in nuclei, allows to render some of
these observables within future sensitivity reach. Moreover, we show that in
this framework, the -penguin exhibits the same non-decoupling behaviour
which had previously been identified in flavour violating Higgs decays in the
Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables; v2: minor corrections, version to
appear in JHE
Averages of -hadron, -hadron, and -lepton properties as of summer 2014
This article reports world averages of measurements of -hadron,
-hadron, and -lepton properties obtained by the Heavy Flavor Averaging
Group (HFAG) using results available through summer 2014. For the averaging,
common input parameters used in the various analyses are adjusted (rescaled) to
common values, and known correlations are taken into account. The averages
include branching fractions, lifetimes, neutral meson mixing parameters,
violation parameters, parameters of semileptonic decays and CKM matrix
elements.Comment: 436 pages, many figures and tables. Online updates available at
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/xorg/hfag
Genetic clustering on the hippocampal surface for genome-wide association studies
Imaging genetics aims to discover how variants in the human genome influence brain measures derived from images. Genome-wide association scans (GWAS) can screen the genome for common differences in our DNA that relate to brain measures. In small samples, GWAS has low power as individual gene effects are weak and one must also correct for multiple comparisons across the genome and the image. Here we extend recent work on genetic clustering of images, to analyze surface-based models of anatomy using GWAS. We performed spherical harmonic analysis of hippocampal surfaces, automatically extracted from brain MRI scans of 1254 subjects. We clustered hippocampal surface regions with common genetic influences by examining genetic correlations (rg) between the normalized deformation values at all pairs of surface points. Using genetic correlations to cluster surface measures, we were able to boost effect sizes for genetic associations, compared to clustering with traditional phenotypic correlations using Pearson's r
Composite Leptoquarks at the LHC
If electroweak symmetry breaking arises via strongly-coupled physics, the
observed suppression of flavour-changing processes suggests that fermion masses
should arise via mixing of elementary fermions with composite fermions of the
strong sector. The strong sector then carries colour charge, and may contain
composite leptoquark states, arising either as TeV scale resonances, or even as
light, pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons. The latter, since they are coupled to
colour, get a mass of the order of several hundred GeV, beyond the reach of
current searches at the Tevatron. The same generic mechanism that suppresses
flavour-changing processes suppresses leptoquark-mediated rare processes,
making it conceivable that the many stringent constraints may be evaded. The
leptoquarks couple predominantly to third-generation quarks and leptons, and
the prospects for discovery at LHC appear to be good. As an illustration, a
model based on the Pati-Salam symmetry is described, and its embedding in
models with a larger symmetry incorporating unification of gauge couplings,
which provide additional motivation for leptoquark states at or below the TeV
scale, is discussed.Comment: 10 pp, version to appear in JHE
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